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The conference room was full of about 70 police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and members of the military, but several people still gasped as they watched footage of a small bomb exploding in the desert outside of Socorro, N.M.

"This is what 10 pounds looks like when it goes off," said instructor Judd Holiday, a former Sacramento, Calif., bomb squad commander.

"If you take that 10-pound shot and set it off in this room, most of us are not going to survive that," he said. ...